Entire neighborhoods were under water. Once-sturdy buildings were swept away by rising waters and four bridges crumbled. Crows and other birds drowned, while rats ran amok in the streets and thrived. Hundreds of people fled their homes, and the government quickly declared the area a disaster.

The April Fools’ Day flood of 1987 left many parts of Maine in ruins. In the western part of the state, where the Androscoggin River rose to 24 feet, destruction was widespread.

Two bridges washed away in Strong and another was destroyed in Farmington. In Wilton, a portion of a fire station crumbled beneath the might of rushing water.

In Lewiston and Auburn, the bridges withstood the rising river though aerial photographs showed that the water had risen right up to the deck of the Longley and South bridges. Powerful, churning water made its way into Heritage Park, covering park benches before the river receded.

In the Twin Cities, chaos came in many forms. Entire neighborhoods, like Little Canada at Lincoln and Cedar streets, had to be evacuated. Families took refuge in motels and looked to the American Red Cross for help.

In Auburn, Higgins Sports Center was among several buildings flooded when the Androscoggin rose over North River Road.

The river roared at 102,000 cubic square feet per second, causing some to flee in panic while others stood along river banks to witness the phenomenon. At Great Falls between Lewiston and Auburn, large crowds gathered as ferocious currents thundered over the falls. For two days, Great Falls was one of the most popular attractions in the area.

Homes and businesses were flooded or knocked down by relentless water that surged over riverbanks. Long sections of major throughways, such as Route 136 in Durham, were swallowed up by the rising river. Pavement on other roads washed away.

In Farmington, a section of the Fairbanks Bridge on Route 4 crashed into the Sandy River. Shortly after, only the upper most section of the bridge was visible above the rushing water. A 100-foot section of an earth wall crumbled at the International Paper hydro dam in Livermore Falls.

Old-timers talked about the legendary flood of 1936. Then it was revealed that in some parts of the state, the April Fool’s Day deluge of 1987 was worse than that notorious flood of a half century earlier.

It was weeks before Maine wrung itself out. When it did, dozens of people were still homeless and the damage was extensive. In Androscoggin County alone, the cost of the destruction was estimated at nearly $4 million.

Every year since the rivers rampaged across Maine, those who remember it have monitored the snow and rain each spring with apprehension.

In 1987, four inches of rain conspired with melting snow and ice to create what would become one of the most memorable floods in Maine history. This week, weather experts said there is very little chance that we will see such a deluge this year – the amount of snow on the ground is slightly below average for this time of year, according to meteorologist Kirk Apffel, at the National Weather Service in Gray. More importantly, the forecast calls for mostly dry weather.

“It looks like we’re doing fairly well. We have a rather mild week ahead of us,” Apffel said. “We don’t have any major rain storms predicted in the near future and that’s a good sign.”